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Source Description

This covered, bucket-shaped cup and saucer would primarily be used to serve hot and cold milk drinks that were prescribed to remedy fever, melancholy, and the effects of drinking too much alcohol. Warmed bread could be served in the deep saucer or, if the beverage was too warm, the milk cocktail could be poured into the saucer to cool. With a ground color of rose (roze), a glaze color developed by Sévres in 1757, this cup presents 4 kidney-shaped reserves, or blank areas reserved for imagery, filled with fantastical birds of paradise in picturesque landscapes. After firing, soft-paste porcelain pieces would be glazed in lead and then painters would ornament the surface. Painters could precisely render each detail, as soft-paste porcelain with an initial lead glaze absorbs all colors of glaze and produces a vibrant color field. Gilded frames, highlighted by carmine enamel, surround each reserve and border the edges of both cup and saucer, giving them a jewel-like appearance that would glimmer in the candlelit interiors of the eighteenth century.

Scholar Source Context

Document identity
localId
35387
label
Two-Handled Covered Cup and Saucer (Gobelet ‘à lait’ et soucoupe)
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
5
Source metadata
id
35387
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Two-Handled Covered Cup and Saucer (Gobelet ‘à lait’ et soucoupe)
description
This covered, bucket-shaped cup and saucer would primarily be used to serve hot and cold milk drinks that were prescribed to remedy fever, melancholy, and the effects of drinking too much alcohol. Warmed bread could be served in the deep saucer or, if the beverage was too warm, the milk cocktail could be poured into the saucer to cool. With a ground color of rose (roze), a glaze color developed by Sévres in 1757, this cup presents 4 kidney-shaped reserves, or blank areas reserved for imagery, filled with fantastical birds of paradise in picturesque landscapes. After firing, soft-paste porcelain pieces would be glazed in lead and then painters would ornament the surface. Painters could precisely render each detail, as soft-paste porcelain with an initial lead glaze absorbs all colors of glaze and produces a vibrant color field. Gilded frames, highlighted by carmine enamel, surround each reserve and border the edges of both cup and saucer, giving them a jewel-like appearance that would glimmer in the candlelit interiors of the eighteenth century.
provenance
E. M. Hodgkins Collection, Paris, no. 13; acquired by A. Seligmann, Rey and Co., New York; purchased by Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1928; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.
date
1757
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
cups (drinking vessels)
saucers
lids
imageCount
5
pageCount
5
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
12.8
height
17.9
dimensionsRaw
H: 5 1/16 x W: 7 1/16 in. (12.8 x 17.9 cm)
Source extras
inscriptions
[Factory Mark] Blue Intertwined Lls on saucer; [Date] Blue Letter: E (1757) on saucer; [Sticker] Round stamp on brown paper “Douanes Expositions Paris” affixed to bottom of saucer; [Factory Mark] Blue Intertwined Lls on Cup; [Date] Blue Letter: E (1757) on cup; [Sticker] Round stamp on brown paper “Douanes Expositions Paris” affixed to bottom of cup; [Factory Mark] Blue Intertwined Lls on lid; [Date] Blue Letter: E (1757) on lid.
med
soft paste porcelain
creator_ids
1916
collection_ids
EAN
exhibition_ids
none
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
1cd4c8f37a6e9c46
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
4046c1254ae6938b
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
3
type
photo
mediaId
b08b4a394a7b79e1
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
4
type
photo
mediaId
31c9a2b8c1e87205
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
5
type
photo
mediaId
a8e6acaee13545be
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no